Often, we see students graduate with a master’s in business administration specializing in Management or Marketing, and getting their first break in the corporate world, with attractive packages in reputed organization. It feels like a true achievement and the thoughts of doing a management plus marketing role from day one. The expectation is often to handle a product, team or a business role, believing that an MBA degree has fully equipped us for such responsibilities. This confidence, and sometimes overconfidence makes us feel like our qualifications entitle us to management positions. Our expectations are sky-high as we step into the real world of management. Let me walk you through what typically happens when you join an organization. Upon joining, we usually attend orientations that last for about two to three days. During these sessions, the departmental heads share their insights about the work, senior management highlights the key achievements, and the HR team discusses the organization’s culture and processes something that we all experience at some extents.
Once the orientation wraps up and the formal introductions are over, the real journey begins. A good start as you meet new people and understand the company’s mission, vision and their operating structure. The excitement builds as you are about to join the department where the real work begins. And then the day arrives where you are finally part of the team and are ready to contribute.
Here comes the reality. The understanding of the word ‘management’ you had so far existed mostly in your textbooks. You are not managing a business yet; you are a small part of a department which itself is one piece of the larger organization. The actual management of the department, often called “running the department” rests with the departmental head.
You are introduced to the hierarchy, the layers and the titles. Along with you, a few others from the same background join. Allocation of work is done for you, and the manager shares his way of working and trains you, how to go about it. His experience is your actual textbook now. His words are you course content, and his actions /stories are your case studies.
The learning begins now as here you must adapt to your assigned manager work style and expectations. As trainee you are supposed to get trained, and the responsibility is on your manager to do so. From Global learnings and case studies, project work as part of your MBA degree, you start learning how the actual work happens and this from the Lense and guidance of your assigned manager. Your understanding, communication, and even body language starts to mirror his. Observation and execution are key here to survive and perform.
From the textbook pages and journals these transits to actual human interface and What once lived in textbook pages, now becomes human interactions and experience. How quickly you adapt to this new rule will determine how well you perform. How quickly you can engage with the new rule book shall be deciding factor of how well you will be able to perform.
Does this mean that all the learning we gained through an MBA degree is not valuable? Of course not. It simply means that your degree has given you the knowledge and the understanding of all the concepts, methodologies and global trends. What you need to take away with you is that applying them in the real world takes time. Think of actual work as a funnel, that is wide at the top, gradually narrowing as it goes down.
When you begin your career, you are at the narrow end of the funnel. There is a long journey ahead before you reach the wider and more open end. Can it get frustrating? Sometimes. But remember that this is experience. Your expectations of the work you do are shaped by what you’ve studied at a management institute, but you may not always get to use all your knowledge the way you want at this stage as you are placed at the the narrow end of the funnel. Your management degree just does not give you knowledge but also discipline, consistency and adaptability.
Adaptability is the key here. You must learn to work within the system and culture while using your knowledge to make your work smarter and more efficient. Your degree gives you information that can be a powerful advantage, but how you apply it determines your success. As they say, information is only valuable when used in the right way and with the right intent.
The journey I described is to prepare you of what to expect next. The one thing that you can take away from this is that these concepts you learn part of the curriculum are important, but your execution will always be the real measure of your performance. Knowledge forms the foundation of how you think and connect ideas. Learning, on the other hand, comes from daily experiences and real interactions. It is a continuous process that never ends. The true essence of management lies in combining your knowledge with these learnings and keeping them in sync. Once you can do this, that is when real management experience begins, and that is exactly what your MBA was meant to prepare you for. Once you can do this, that is when real management experience begins, and that is exactly what your MBA was meant to prepare you for. Learnings are actual experiences and your daily interactions, which we gain from meeting people and it’s a process, which is ongoing and a continuous program. Knowledge plus learnings is what you need to manage and sync together. And once you can do this, management experience ticks in and this is what Management courses prepared you for. Gradual progressions and climbing up the ladder of hierarchy and responsibilities ensures you are on the right track. Management school not only teaches us principles of our specialization but also creates a discipline culture, teamwork and adaption to newer ways of working. All these enables us to be more prepared to take to challenges of the corporate or a business set-up with confidence.
Author
Rajiv S Sawhney
Designation: Professor of Practice
Department: School of Business